You know how one memory can lead to the next and on and on?  Tonight, I heard a song from way-back.  It was “Safety Dance” by Men Without Hats. In one moment, I am thrown back 30 years, dancing at a Mega-Dance Bar in Dayton, and in the next moment, I was roller skating in the basement of my childhood home.

But all of the thoughts, the memories, somehow had to do with taking risks or playing it safe.

Back to the basement.  We had a huge old coal furnace down there.  It looked like an Octopus.  It had been converted to gas, I think, at some point.  But in the back… at the narrowest pass, it had a duct that hung way down, with a big square vent on it.

So we would roller skate around that furnace, like Roller Derby Queens.  I was pretty dang young.  But you would get to the backside of the Octopus, and if someone pushed you a little, or you miss stepped…. WHAMMMO.  You would crack your head on that vent.  Trust me on this one.

It was a risk we took.  We were young.  We were Roller Derby Queens.  We were girls without helmets, and we didn’t care.

I used to take a lot of risks.  A lot.  Some happened as a result of my having an underdeveloped child brain. (See comment above about “cracking head on vent”)   Yes… it still had lots of years to grow-up and into reason.

The other times I took unnecessary risks…. typically were a result of my impaired judgement from external influences.

These days, I am not much of a risk taker.  I do the Safety Dance a lot. By definition…. taking risks usually involves some kind of danger, or unpleasant occurrence.   Yet, on closer inspection…. it is….simply life.

Every time we place our feet on the floor when we get out of bed in the morning, we begin taking risks.  There is no such thing as a sure thing.   Our safety, our health, our well-being can be disrupted at any given moment in time.  Our Safety Dance could lose its beat.

Sure, we can make educated guesses, well-informed decisions, and even believe in weather forecasters.  But it is all open for chance.  I think the happiest people in the world are the ones who embrace this…  the unknown.  The risk. The chance.

I’m going to try and be more like them.  Yep.  Once again, I shall skate like a Roller Derby Queen.  I’m going to dance without my helmet on.